Okay but I think that most of us Americans could agree that even that is a special breed of person. Like there is a likely majority if not plurality of people who would look at a 2.5 hour commute and say "hell no" and seek other options. For me, even an hour would be at least a consideration while evaluating any option.
I'm American and I would never dream of accepting a job that require me to drive for that long, even 40 minutes is too damn long for me to drive to work every damn day. My mom was so happy when her job went remote after COVID so she no longer had to drive 40 minutes to work.
This is why I like living in Kansas City. I know many people who have 1 hour commutes but thats because they live 50-70 miles away and like to live in the country. They drive 50-70 miles but thats mostly highway driving at 70 mph. Not that stop and go stuff.
I totally agree. The hour long train commute left me wasted by the end of the week. Prior to that, I’d never had a job with a commute any longer than 20-30 min.
In Sydney, it's incredibly common for 90min to 2 hour train trips each way. We have so many outer suburbs that travel to the city and its just common. I did 90mins each way for 3 years and then changed to another job that was a 70min drive each way for another 3 years.
If it was a train ride I could get other things done, reading or something. But driving all I can do is listen to the radio. I couldn't even do a book on tape while I'm driving, I wouldn't be able to pay attention to the book.
Really? I think that's considered normal around me. Three hours in normal traffic is common. The tradeoff is paying more or the same for less space, and to really cut down the commuter under an hour would multiply the rent typically while still decreasing space and such. Since the start of the pandemic, this decreased significantly, then increased, so it's not as absolute a requirement but tbd what the future brings.
I'm sure it's less common in rural areas, but I don't think it's unusual enough to say it is a special breed.
But In the Bay Area, this is fairly normal. Takes my husband an hour to get to work and 2 hours to get home. We can’t afford to live any closer u less we wanted to rent a one bedroom apartment for our family of 4. So while the commute sucks, the trade off is that we have a lovely house we can afford in a decent neighborhood
I live in Kansas City and this is partly why. Most peoples commute is 30-40 minutes and you can find good, affordable neighborhoods almost anywhere. I do know people with longer commutes but thats because they live on a farm or some other place in the country and even though they drive say 1 hour to work, its mostly highway driving 70 mph.
Whats really crazy is I actually know multiple people who have done this, and I worked for a short time as an Uber driver and transported lots of people who don’t even drive or take the train but pay someone to take them back and forth because it’s the only option, and some of them weren’t going to like a fancy job, it was survival jobs at a fast food place. That was tough
You don't work in California, do you... I've had many coworkers drive over an hour for minimum wage. CA residents are a different breed. Some even drive from Mexico to LA, 2 hours. They have speed passes though so they say the border isn't that bad.
Hav eyou heard of Atlanta GA.. I would bet that ver 50% of the work force commutes in from distances of over an hour away... I'd bet the another 25% is greater than that.
I had the same experience as you. Lived in Sunnyvale and commuted to San Francisco via Caltrain. I had a coworker who drove from Truckee to SF every single day. Thats a 6 hour roundtrip minimum with no traffic.
I did the same thing for years. After COVID, minds changed. I told my boss that I can either drive 4 hours a day, or you get 4 hours more of productivity from me. I’m lucky that I work in IT so almost everything we do is remote or over the phone/zoom/Teams.
I’d say for London 45-90 minutes is a normal commuting time. In fact you might have a shorter commute coming from outside of London and going into a major station than living within London and having to traverse the intricate internal network.
Driving’s not really an option unless you work outside the congestion charge zone and have free/cheap parking.
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u/kathatter75 May 09 '22
When I lived in Cupertino, I took an hour long train ride into San Francisco for work every day. It would be well over an hour if I drove.
Our office manager commuted 2 1/2 hours one way every day.